Great! I am happy all is well. Sailor is right. Do not be tempted to open that Cantal prematurely. You need to age it long time. I would do at least 5-6 months.

I used to fly private, then I did volunteer search and rescue. That was all in Southern California. When I relocated to NYC I was attached to a local unit but it was too much paperwork and not enough flying. I was still going back and forth and flew with friends when I would visit CA but I haven't flown in a few years now. It's very expensive and especially difficult living in NYC. I see from your avatar that you fly too?

I've marked my ripening log for testing in 6 months. Think I'm going to need to make another caerphilly to tide me over!

Yes, my eyes have been skyward for years now. I fly a paraglider; my avatar is me! It's a pretty extreme addiction. But when I can't fly I ferment. I hope you find a way to get airtime soon. Is there lift without flying? Shudder...

Indeed. It's funny how Leonardo DeVinci predicted so long ago that people's eyes would point skyward once they take on flying. It's so true. I hope to get airtime soon too, but realistically I will need to go up and get re-certified -and even if I do that, if I don't have the budget to rent an aircraft at least every few weeks than it's useless. At this point I am fully invested in my technology startup and I am starting a creamery smack in the middle of Manhattan. Ah, priorities. I fly Cessna 172, 182 and 206, Maule MX-7 and have a little bit of time on a Schweizer 2-33 glider and some STOL aircraft and various low-wing GA. I do miss it.

Here's pictures of my 2nd try. This time the manufacture went a lot smoother. I think I was too rough on the curds during milling on the first one. I treated them a little more gently this time and lost a lot less fat during pressing. I got a high yield, but that's just due to higher total solids in the milk.

2nd pressing. l set it at 200 lbs and like the negligent cheese maker I am, I took off for the weekend. So it's pressed a total of 73 hours! Think it's done? The raw milk I'm getting from a newly freshened Brown Swiss cow is a very nice change from store bought milk. It's sets a very firm curd and smells wonderful... very buttery. It has a lot more color too. I tasted the shavings I trimmed off the rim and was amazed as how much flavor there was already! I can't wait to try a finished cheese from this milk!

I went ahead and cut into Cantal #30. It was very dry, crumbly and salty. It's developing a flavor that should be good, but at this time it's only good for cooking--not good for eating yet! Back to the cave for a few more months.

Time for the 6 month taste test. This cheese is salty, chalky, and crumbly. Texture makes eating it out of hand not pleasant! On the bright side, it does melt and tastes pretty good after melting. So this will be a good cheese for cooking or grilled cheese sandwiches. For crackers...yuk!

That is a nice melthing photo. Well done. A shame it's not snackable right off the wheel, but then, given the size of the wheel perhaps that's a good thing? It looks like you had a nice knit though. It seems to me you're very close. Are you going to try again? A cheese to you for this one.

- Jeff

Logged

The wise do not always start out on the right path, but they do know when to change course.